This E-mail Will Self-Destruct In Three Days

Today's business market is more competitive than ever and companies want to ensure that communications, which were meant to be confidential, remain secure. Addressing this concern, Authentica and other companies have developed online shredding systems that scramble e-mail messages and limit access to the software key needed to decrypt them. Thanks to virtual shredding, senders can destroy messages either remotely or automatically, without a recipient's consent or cooperation. Although the usage of "virtual shredding" technology is relatively low, there is growing interest as companies want to preserve and destroy records without running afoul of the law.

As digital technology becomes more sophisticated, gray areas emerge in Internet law. In addition, critics warn that the technology is not foolproof. Although self-shredding software disables printing, copying and screen-capture functions, nothing will stop a determined person from photographing the screen or writing the information down by hand. In addition, technology can't help companies automatically destroy e-mail they receive. By the time e-mail reaches a recipient, several unencrypted copies already exist.

With the growing use of e-mail in business, you can be certain that companies such as Authentica will continue to develop software to better protect confidential electronic communications.

3W Studios Designer Places In iPhoto Contest

Rodney Johnson, one of 3W Studios' designers, has won a first prize in Apple's iPhoto Homepage contest. With the introduction of iPhoto, Apple created a contest to promote the free photo organizing software. Contestants submitted web galleries with the themes of nature, creative, or people via iPhoto and iTools, a free consumer web service of Apple.

"Thinking the contest rules were a bit unclear, I opted to submit a basic export and let the strength of my work determine the outcome," Rodney stated.

He walks away with an Apple iPod, an MP3 player with a 5GB Firewire hard drive valued at $399.

Internet Reflects Cultural Diversity

By the end of 2002, more than 600 million people will access the Internet - and they'll come from all walks of life. "Internet users once had a similar profile," research company IDC said in its new study, The Internet Mosaic: One World, Many Nations. "Now, they are all ages, all education levels, all occupations and from all countries." According to the study, online spending grew 68 percent between 2000 and 2001, and by 2002 it will pass the $1 trillion mark.

In the United States, the Internet is predicted to become such a big part of culture that 80 percent of the population will use it at least once a month by 2006.

Everybody's Doing It

If anyone thought that the Internet, e-mail and web-based technology would hit its peak and then go away - guess again. It's big now, and it will only get bigger. In fact, CNN.com and USAToday recently ran articles noting over 50% of American households are now connected to the Internet. An even more staggering statistic is that 90%, or 47.4 million, of children between the ages of 5 and 17 now use computers at home and at school.

RPOF Chairman Cardenas Hosts Online Chat

From the creation of the original design to expanding the level of functionality to include an online chat room, 3W Studios continues to provide state-of-the-art design for the RPOF website.

Republican Party of Florida Chairman Al Cardenas hosted the first of a monthly series of question and answer sessions in the new RPOF online chat room. The invitation-only event allows party members from around the state to participate in real-time conversations with the Chairman. The chat room is expected to see more use, and even some special guests (gee, wonder who that could be), as this gubernatorial election year heats up.

Google Lets Companies Search Their Own Database

Large corporations can have trouble searching through their own documents, let alone trying to find something on the Web. Innovative search engine Google has now released a product to let companies search through the information hidden in their own databases.

The product, called Google Search Appliance, is able to scan content including employees' emails, computer code and important company documents. But businesses can adjust the product's search parameters to suit their own aims.

Large companies, including the National Semiconductor Corp, have already bought the program. The basic edition costs $20,000, and searches up to 150,000 documents, while the premium edition costs $250,000 and can search through millions of documents.

Did You Know?

Source - Christian Brothers University School of Business Information